L(J) Space

The BBC have published some press reviews of the National Theatre's production of Nation Sadly, they aren't too encouraging.

Whose thinking of going?

The Guardian and National Theatre are running a Youtube competition based on the upcoming production of Nation.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/oct/12/nation-competition

So I was wandering around the web today filling in a few hours on a hot Saturday afternoon and came across this review on Twitter for Unseen Academicals. I've just finished reading it recently and absolutely loved it. What did you guys think of it?

http://www.kickoffyourheels.com/unseen-academicals-by-terry-pratchett/

I posted a longish, if somewhat late, review of Unseen Academicals here on my journal. Discussion and comments (including disagreement) are welcome; be warned that my review is fairly negative.

I need help!

I was wondering, for those who've read UA, what your favourite quotes are?

I've been putting a review together and made a quotes section - but I've been having internet troubles and lost half of them (it seems to hate being edited)
...so if anyone could comment (here or there) with a favourite quote I'd be very grateful.


...obviously, the link and the comments on this are spoilerish.

Hi everyone!

I've been trying to find good Discworld fanfic, but really haven't come across too much good stuff. Any of your recommendations would be appreciated! Although I'm partial to slash!fic, I'm willing to read anything as long as you think it's worth reading. :)

I know that this post has probably been done.. but I am doing it again:
HELP.  I am so f'ing bored, and Sir Terry is taking too long for a new book.
Someone suggest some decent authors with a shred of wit, but not so heavy that
I need to keep notes.
And if you say Robin Hobb, I will bitch slap you. :)

EDIT:  Jeepers--- you guys are the best! 
Now shut up, I have reading. 

Tickets available here!

Quick-ish stuff, nothing really cleaned-up, but some fanarts anyhow...

*Obligatory spoiler warning inserted here*

Sketches I
Sketches II (This is about a fortnight older and contains also other tosh and general anatomy practice, hence Devart's mature content filter. If you can't get past it, you can also view the image here.)

When I saw THIS, I couldn't help remembering the Ankh-Morpork stable that employed an Igor and the horse that was rumored to have a "longitudinal seam from head to tail" being made up from two horses in a particularly nasty accident. (Or words to that effect--I don't have my copy to hand.)

Since this isn't a custom job but a special run straight from Breyer's factory, one wonders if they read the book and were inspired.

In case anyone hasn't seen the new interview in New Scientist:

Terry Pratchett: Fighting to keep the fantasy alive

The prolific author discusses tinkering with science, his battle with Alzheimer's, and the odds of escaping from a crab bucket.

Hi,

I just wanted to remind you all that the next price increment for membership of the convention kicks in on Sunday November 1st. As per:

https://www.dwcon.org/static/membership

Full Membership rises from £50 to £55 and Concessionary Membership moves from £33 - £36. Supporting stays static at £20, but obviously the price to later convert to a full membership will increase!

It should also be noted that we're now up at around 625 members (the computer glitch in assigning numbers is being filled in quite rapidly), so while there's still a ways to go to our 800 cap, the gap is getting smaller!

We're really looking forward to August 2010 and along with a few more guests we hope to announce the first draft of our Programme well before the end of the year.

As always, if you have any queries, please let us know!

Membership - membership@dwcon.org
Hotel - hotel@dwcon.org
General Queries - info@dwcon.org

Regards,

Brian,
Chairman, Discworld Convention 2010
www.dwcon.org

Discworld Convention 2010 is a trading name of Star Turtle Ltd, whose profits are for the benefit of registered charities, registered in England and Wales with Company Number 04538796.
Registered Address: 31 Henllys Road, Cyncoed, Cardiff, CF23 6NL.
Please DO NOT use this address for any correspondence relating to membership, hotel bookings etc.
Details of how to contact the Convention may be found on the above web site.

Brisbane Arts Theatre presents Terry Pratchett's Maskerade!

Tonight 7:30 pm, Friday and Saturday 8:00 pm, special show Saturday night to commemorate closing and Halloween, so come dressed up and ready to party!



(x-posted to brisneyland and discworld)

He (or possibly his smell) has been spotted in Midkemia :)
Jimmy the Hand deals with an obvious expy of Ron called Noxious Neville in order to help members of Krondor's Mockers (the thieves' guild) escape from prison. Much later on in the story, Jimmy is fighting with a mercenary of suspect bathing habits: They circled for an instant, with breath nearly as bad as Foul ol' Ron's issuing from the mercenary. and then Jimmy managed to stamp downward and land his heel on the other man's instep P.352 of the Eos paperback edition.

It seems that Foul ol' Ron and his smell may be a little more widely travelled than Pterry knows.

Just happened to see these two Brittish(?) Editions, in with all the others:

ONE

TWO



And this page, for those of us who don't know where to start :)
Recommended Reading Order

So I am almost done with Unseen Academicals. Parts of the book are laugh out loud funny. But I feel like it is suffering from what I like to call Heinlein syndrome (Heinlein got so popular that he was able to refuse to let his editors edit and so his last books could have used some serious editing). It is good. But it doesn't have quite the same flavor as Sir Pterry's other books.

Now, I'm not sure if that is because it really isn't quite up to snuff, or if it is because I know it was written after Sir Pterry's diagnosis of Alzheimer's and am being more critical because I am expecting the flaws. However, since I didn't find out until after I had read Nation that it was written well before the Alzheimer's and was reading it with the same critical eye and not finding the same flaws...

One of the problems I see with it is a problem which you see all of the time with writers who have long, involved, on-going series set in specific worlds. This is there are so many nods to characters who really aren't part of the book. Bledlow Nobbs (no relation) is an example. Having read all of the books I see the humor in it, but if I had happened to pick this book up cold, it wouldn't be funny even the first time. If I had been his editor, I would have told him to cut out a batch of the one-off references to characters in other books and to expand the roles of some of the other characters, but I'm not his editor.

And I'm certainly not his publisher. For all I know, he was told to add all those other characters in in hopes of selling more books. Which I'm sure it does, but I'm also sure it weakens the current book to do so.

( cut )

All-in-all, I am enjoying this book as I have enjoyed everything I've ever read by him, and I would put it on a par with Moving Pictures or Eric even though it doesn't seem to have the same wacky flavor as either of those. To a die-hard Sir Pterry fan I would definitely recommend it. To a new Sir Pterry reader I would say, 'Start with Guards! Guards!.

Edited because I habitually overuse the word 'that'. I guess I'm lucky I didn't use 'actually'.

I've written a long, detailed (many quotations from the novels!) Vetinari/Drumknott ship manifesto which also includes a lot non-shippy discussion of Drumknott as a character. Due to its length, I'm not crossposting it, but it's here on my journal if anyone's interested in reading it.

There's some discussion of Unseen Academicals but no plot spoilers for that novel; the top of the post includes a full spoiler warning for other books.

I've just finished reading Unseen Academicals and so I'm currently enjoying my post-Pratchett aftertaste. However, there are some moments I didn't quite grasp and I'd appreciate if you share your thoughts on them.
( Spoilery spoilers ahead )

For the Supernatural fans here - and I assume there are at least a few - ( cut for spoilers... )